Boots of Nottingham opens 'historic' digital archive

High street chain Boots have released a new online archive containing 20,000 entries including pictures, adverts and magazines from the company's history. The firm, founded by Jesse Boot in Nottingham in 1849, said its vast collection could help understand the history of the UK's retail industry. Boots archivist Sophie Clapp said the company is also "Inherently" linked to the people of Nottingham. Jesse Boot started his small herbalist store about 165 years ago and by the mid-1930s there were over 1,000 Boots shops in the UK. Mr Boot was not only a successful businessman, whose firm dominated the pharmacy industry, but also a philanthropist and was responsible for a number of welfare initiatives. The company had its first full-time welfare worker in 1911 and the Boot family later developed one of the UK's first daylight factories.